1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to intravascular wire guided catheters and specifically to automatic means of placement of a guide wire of an intravascular catheter within the lumen of blood vessels, either automatically or manually triggered by the operator.
2. Prior Art
Placing intravascular catheters within blood vessels is a common medical surgical procedure. Various types of catheters are available today to the practicing health care worker. A common type of catheter is the so called wire guided catheter based on the Seldinger technique of insertion. Such a catheter comprises a guide wire which is introduced manually into the vessel prior to the introduction of the catheter itself. The procedure is carried out as follows:
The vessel is penetrated with a hollow needle. As soon as the operator realizes that the wall of the vessel has been penetrated and the tip of the needle is within the blood vessel lumen, he or she advances the guide wire manually sliding it inside the hollow needle into the blood vessel. Once the guide wire is placed within the vessel to a desired length, the operator slides the catheter over the guide wire placing so the catheter well within the vessel lumen. This operation of sliding the catheter over the guide wire is accomplished in certain type of catheter by removing the needle and so leaving only the guide wire within the blood vessel prior to the introduction of the catheter. In other types the needle needs not to be removed prior to the sliding of the catheter over the guidewire. In all situations however the guide wire is advanced within the vessel lumen manually by the operator once the occurred penetration of the blood vessel by the hollow needle has been ascertained.
Various are the reasons of failure in this manual procedure of guide wire placement within the blood vessel lumen. The operator can fail because many factors such as inability to recognize penetration of the blood vessel well, sequence delays, disruption of the continuity of the blood vessel, patient anatomical variability etc.
A search in the patent office has revealed no prior art in this specific field i.e. in automatic guide wire placement within a blood vessel.